There’s little left to do. The game is very nearly in its final state. That guy outside the gym who happily informs you the gym leader’s back? He’s still saying that, no change now that Giovanni’s once again abandoned the place. The other people here? No interest in learning the boss of Team Rocket ran their gym or that the group’s disbanded now.

All there is is a few odds and ends, like this guy.

That’s the sort of thing I dream about.

Well, okay, but don’t you think it’s more likely you bought the TM and, with it on your mind, happened to dream about it?

This is actually a pretty good TM- you can only use it when a pokemon’s asleep, but it’s the only powerful HP-draining move in the game. At 100 power, if it’d only been a ghost move, there would have actually been a way to counter the inevitable mewtwo on everyone’s team. Alas, it is instead yet another notch on psychic being overpowered.

Moot for this game – I’m not using either of the pokemon that can learn it.

And it’s Gary again! Yes!
Also when I got the eighth badge I destroyed a man’s life. Beat that, Gary!

…Indeed.THE

THERE IS NO THE SHORTAGE, USE THE DAMN WORD.
Always!

Yes, it was already faster. It followed this with whirlwind.
Enemy pidgeot ultimately dies without getting a hit in.
You can guess how this went.
…
And this.

Here’s where it things got tougher. Despite the fact Gary’s pokemon are all much higher level than mine, only with his alakazam did this begin to matter.
See, unlike the rest? Alakazam actually used attacking moves.
I’m honestly impressed my tauros did even that well.
It then followed up this competence by using recover when injured, as opposed to when at full health.

I ultimately lose by a hair, thanks to all the critical hits. My pokemon are far lower level than I’m used to since I’ve been switching around and raising other pokemon, as well as not grinding for experience in tall grass as much as I would.

As seems to always happen to me, replaying a battle means the pokemon change strategy and switch to aggressive moves, so pidgeot makes a decent showing, but other things go better for me, culminating in Gary’s charizard wasting various turns leering at me. The victory is strangely easy.
THE DAMMIT THE
See how awesome Gary is? He doesn’t give up his dream to challenge the league to go sulk in some cave moaning about trust and friendship. He flips you off and goes to kick their asses.

And then he disappears.

Well, time for my victory lap.
If you trigger them once early in the game they won’t do it again. (They’re amazingly good at remembering faces, I guess.) That’s a bit of a disappointment here, but it’s necessary, as you’ll see. Onward!
The design of the place has always struck me as odd. You start off in a building, then…hell if I know. The colored tiles look kind of like they’re grass, like this is all some very elaborate landscape design.

I still remember you and your refusal to let me through even though I had all the other badges. Watch your back.
The little plaques you see on the weird wall sections aren’t just decoration, they say things.

Which, like so many things, only raises more questions. Authority how? Are they the ones who know most about and whose opinion on matters is best respected, or ones actually laying down laws? If the former, who’s to say they’re actually right about this stuff – maybe there’s all sorts of misinformation that’s believed because they’re the ones saying it. And if the latter, they sure don’t seem to be doing anything helpful with that power. Not only did they fail to stop any of the crimes we saw, which involved things as terrible as the murder of a pokemon and as blatant as taking over an entire city, but in addition, it opens up the possibility that whatever flexing of muscle they do, it’s aimed at things we wouldn’t consider valid targets, since all we know about them is that they don’t act in the situations that seem like real issues.

Also they sure do seem full of themselves, don’t they?

And now there’s water.

If you don’t have a surfing pokemon on your main team this really sucks. Not just because you’ll need to backtrack right now, but because it means lugging that pokemon through the upcoming cave.

But seriously, why the water? Why stick your guards in the water? Why is there water here?
Now, random island on the water, that I won’t question, just approve of.

And now I’ve reached the grassy area.
It has relatively strong pokemon.

But this is the most you’ll get. My pokemon right now are ridiculously underleveled, so they look decent, but they won’t do much good in actual fights.